Miss Stanton Q&A
KATIE WONG | AUG. 16 2023 | FEATURES
In March 2023, five junior girls from Stanton College Preparatory School competed in the yearly Miss Stanton pageant. After showcasing their various talents, charisma, and platforms, Vikas Sankar took home the crown and the title of Miss Stanton, with Amal Khokhar and Maria Egorova as the first and second runner-ups. On Aug. 3, 2023, the three spoke to the Devil’s Advocate about their respective journeys through the Miss Stanton pageant.
KATIE WONG: What is Miss Stanton?
AMAL KHOKHAR: Miss Stanton is an advocacy and scholarship pageant that occurs in your junior year and also allows participants to advocate for a cause or platform.
KW: How can someone join?
AK: Every girl in the junior class will get a letter delivered to them in one of their classes and you will be invited to join a Teams page where there’s going to be an interest form and then you can apply to be a contestant.
MARIA EGOROVA: Make sure you keep up on Teams and if you have any questions, talk to Ms. Ennis. Also, follow our Instagram account because that’s where we [showcase our platforms] and do our regular updates. We will be answering questions there so anyone is welcome to DM us.
KW: What were your platforms for Miss Stanton?
AK: My platform for Miss Stanton was mental health awareness and bullying prevention for teenagers. I felt like this platform was important to me, especially being a student at Stanton because sometimes there is such a stigma towards mental health and people do not like talking about it and having those conversations about how they feel. I think it’s crucial to bring [awareness] because at such an academically rigorous school, such as Stanton, taking care of our mental health needs to be prioritized more than we already do.
VIKAS SANKAR: My platform was inclusivity and diversity in the STEM field. Since women only currently make up 27 percent of the STEM field, I think it’s very [vital] to inspire young girls to pursue STEM from a young age. I am very passionate about this issue because I have done robotics for over 10 years now.
ME: My platform was about pollution of beaches and their cleanliness. I actually used to be a beach hater, but moving to Jacksonville really changed my opinion. I realized how calming and amazing the ocean is and I really wanted to preserve that.
KW: How did your platforms affect you?
AK: My platform personally affected me because I feel like throughout elementary, middle, and high school, bullying is something that almost every kid faces and mental health is something that is for everyone. I feel like especially being of South Asian descent, mental health is something looked down upon and there’s a stigma for it. Growing up with a family that [had] a passion for it, I wanted to share this with [others because] it’s something we should care about.
ME: For me, seeing dirty beaches and seeing how that affects the animals — because I saw a turtle/bird eating trash, it just really hurt, like I felt really bad. Also, just walking around and seeing trash on the beaches like [cigarette butts], I did not like it and I really wanted to do something about it.
VS: My platform has affected me because having been in multiple robotics teams growing up, I have been the only girl on those. I’ve seen how a lot of times girls feel like they might not be good enough to join those teams, so I just want to show them that they can do anything they put their mind to, especially from a young age so that they can pursue whatever career they want in the future.
KW: What were some of your favorite experiences of Miss Stanton?
AK: My favorite part of the pageant was that there were actually only five contestants this year and it gave all of us a court and the other contestants, as well to form different bonds. We really got that one on one time with each other to create a special friendship.
ME: I really loved how we helped each other because we [worked on] our assignments every week. We all knew that we were struggling and it was hard to do sometimes, [but] we went through it all together, and it was nice to know that all of us were scared to fail, and it was [an enjoyable] bonding moment.
VS: I liked that we all had platforms we were passionate about, which showed it was much more than just a beauty contest. Along with the interview process and the on stage questions, the program gave us the opportunity to work on our public speaking skills.
KW: If you would recommend the program to other students, why?
ME: I would 100% recommend it because it is an amazing experience. You get to meet other people and get really close to them, but you’ll also learn important skills. For example, I didn’t know how to fundraise before this, but I had to raise 500 dollars for the pageant. Now that I have to do it for Yearbook, I already have the experience and I’m not as scared. Miss Stanton also helped me with public speaking. I’m way more [prepared] when I face questions like this.
AK: Some people might think "I don't enjoy pageants, I don’t enjoy public speaking” because they have this concept of what a beauty contest might be, and I do recommend this to anyone because it gives you an opportunity to make new friends. I had never done a pageant before—none of us had—but it was a brand new door because you won’t even know if you’ll like something until you try it. It definitely became one of my passions for sure, and it allowed me to explore talents that I didn’t know I had: I really enjoyed speaking to people and talking to them about what I care about.
VS: Whether you win the crown or not, it’s a unique opportunity that gives you such a wide array of skills from talking to other people to even working on your talents [and] friendships you gain throughout the process. It’s such an overall experience that is one of a kind and offered here at Stanton.